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A review by apatrick1982
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne
4.0
Helena is a normal wife and mother, raising two girls, selling homemade jams and jellies, and enjoying life with her husband. She then sees on the news that a man named Jacob- known child kidnapper and murderer- has killed guards and escaped from prison. Her world as she knows it is about to change drastically. What no one knows is that Jacob is her father, who had kidnapped her mother when she was 14 years and forced her to live amongst the marsh lands and heavy forest in the middle of nowhere. Helena was the biproduct of a grown man who kidnapped and raped a 14 year old girl and kept her captive in a downtrodden cabin. Helena knows that she is the only one who can hunt down and trap her father, using the survivalist tools and in the way that she grew up .
I really dug this story. I have read stories like this before- of child abduction, the claustrophobic nature of being in the middle of nowhere, of children telling the story of growing up in captivity- but this one felt different. We have all heard the stories of real life child abductions and if by some miracle the child is found years later, we discover they bore children from their abductor- JayCee Dugard comes to mind for me. We all know that the kidnapper is evil and sick and disturbed. But to that child born from evil, that's still their father. They may see instances of cruelty here and there, but Helena still sees lots of good in him. She sees a caring father at times who teaches her how to hunt deer, and make pelts, and survive in the wilderness.
I liked how we get to see both sides of Jacob in this story. You get some nice growing-up stories and memories, but then something happens that packs an emotional punch to the gut. The author NEVER lets you forget what kind of monster Jacob is or what he is capable of.
The book does have its slower parts, but the cat and mouse game as Helena is attempting to hunt down her father in the marsh makes up for it.
I really dug this story. I have read stories like this before- of child abduction, the claustrophobic nature of being in the middle of nowhere, of children telling the story of growing up in captivity- but this one felt different. We have all heard the stories of real life child abductions and if by some miracle the child is found years later, we discover they bore children from their abductor- JayCee Dugard comes to mind for me. We all know that the kidnapper is evil and sick and disturbed. But to that child born from evil, that's still their father. They may see instances of cruelty here and there, but Helena still sees lots of good in him. She sees a caring father at times who teaches her how to hunt deer, and make pelts, and survive in the wilderness.
I liked how we get to see both sides of Jacob in this story. You get some nice growing-up stories and memories, but then something happens that packs an emotional punch to the gut. The author NEVER lets you forget what kind of monster Jacob is or what he is capable of.
The book does have its slower parts, but the cat and mouse game as Helena is attempting to hunt down her father in the marsh makes up for it.